Rome film fest favours emerging directors

A worker carries a ladder as the red carpet of the Rome Film Festival is being set up, at Rome's auditorium, on Thursday, Nov 8, 2012. The Rome Film Festival opens on Friday, Nov 9 until Nov 17. -- PHOTO: AP

ROME (AFP) - The Rome Film Festival opened in the Italian capital on Friday with a line-up dedicated mainly to emerging talents, swapping red carpet stars for films by Tajik, Catalan and Mexican directors.

Ahead of a glitzy opening ceremony, artistic director Marco Muller, who previously headed up the Venice Film Festival, denied claims the lack of blockbusters had hurt ticket sales, which are down 15 per cent on last year.

"We've just selected films which are better than others," he said.

"There are Hollywood films, American films which are very accessible," he said, adding that a huge tent that can seat 1,400 spectators had been erected and "we wouldn't have done that if we didn't think it could be filled."